“If they swear service to you, are you not someone then who should be served?”
Dexter stared at her for a long minute. “Why do I bother?” he muttered. “You can’t learn what it means to be human. You can’t know responsibility or friendship or love. No matter how much I tell you, you’re nothing but a walking and talking chair,” he said with disappointment.
Dexter turned to walk away again, feeling like he had failed. He took a few steps and glanced back, seeing that Keshira had not moved. “Not following me like a lost puppy?”
“Captain, I feel your disappointment,” she said to him. “We are bonded and I can feel you through it.”
Dexter grunted. She had told him this before. It had bothered him then, but now it was of little interest. He had given up hope of her ever being anything more than a mindless automaton.
“It causes a disturbance in me,” she continued. “Something is not right. Do you know what it is?”
“How would I know?” He snapped back at her.
Ignoring his temper she replied, “You can feel it through the bond we share.”
“I don’t-“ Dexter stopped, realizing what she had just said. “Wait, you mean this bond… it’s something I can use too?”
She nodded. “Yes, Captain, it works both ways.”
“What does that mean?”
“You can feel what I feel and communicate with me through it. With training, you can experience my senses through it as well.”
“Your senses,” he said slowly. “You mean I can see what you see and hear what you hear?”
“With training and time, yes Captain.”
“How do I do it?”
“Concentrate on me and will yourself to feel the connection to me,” she explained. “It may help if you close your eyes.”
Dexter stared at the beautiful construct before him and realized how he had trained himself to not really look at her. To not really think of her as a person in spite of all that he had said. He cursed himself for his contrary behavior and forced himself now to look upon her fully. Doing so, however, quickly left him distracted as he became entranced by her impossible physical perfection.
“Aye, close my eyes,” he muttered. He closed them and thought of her again, struggling to feel some sort of connection to her.
“You have done this before, Captain,” she said softly. “You have spoken to me without speaking.”
“I have?” he asked, eyes opening in surprise.
She nodded. “Yes Captain, you were always distracted but very focused on your distraction, it helped you connect to me without realizing it.”
Dexter nodded and closed his eyes again. He focused again on her, but instead of spamming random mental thoughts in her direction, he tried to feel her. In a rush that nearly knocked him from his feet, a new world of sensation and possibility opened up to him.
“I feel you,” Keshira said to him, her tone different than normal, though he did not notice. “I have felt you before, but this time it is different.”
Dexter nodded. “Yeah… different.”
Dexter’s senses swam with Keshira. It was a strange and alien feeling, sensations not his own tingled through him. Emotions, he was familiar with, and recognition of what was happening set in.
“You… you feel,” he said, realizing something that he had not truly appreciated before. “I’m sorry, Keshira,” he said.
A rush of emotion welled in her, washing away the sadness with pleasure. She knew, she could feel him as well. She knew he was genuine in his remorse. “I know other people think and feel,” he explained, for himself more than for her. “I know it, and yet it never really mattered.”
“I know better now,” he muttered.
Dexter glanced up at the beautiful construct that suddenly seemed more human to him than anyone before ever had. “Keshira, that thing you felt. The disturbance — it is called sadness. I treated you poorly and it made you sad. I am sorry.”
“And now?” she asked.
“Joy,” he said.
She nodded. “It is part of my construction,” she explained. “The emotions — you can deny them to me, if you desire. You have absolute power over me, Captain.”
Dexter’s eyes widened. “What? No — never! That’s a cruelty that should never be done. Not to you nor anyone. In fact, when you’re happy, it’s okay to smile.”
Keshira smiled, her full lips curling up and revealing her equally perfect teeth. Dexter whistled through his teeth. “Be careful with that,” he said. “You’re likely to cause some hearts to stop if you share that with too many men.”
Keshira looked at him with a head cocked to the side, but Dexter just laughed. “You’ve much to learn, my friend, but I’m thinking I’ve got a fair bit to know yet myself!”
“Now then, I’ve got to find Jenna — seems I owe her a thing or two,” he said. “Any chance you see where she went?”
“The tower,” Keshira said. “After she donned her prize, she slipped away and headed towards the tower.”
Dexter frowned. He wondered why she would go there. Then again, by winning she was allegedly the new Lord of Deepingdale. Perhaps she had been so angry with him that she was ready to begin her new post and be rid of him.
“Rosh!” Bekka said, surprised to see the large man stomping up the deck. “Are there problems?”
“What?” He snapped, then softened. “Sorry, just ain’t in the mood for it.”
“What happened?” The always inquisitive half elf asked.
The large man took in a breath to brush her off, then paused and blew it out. “Nice place here,” he said, turning and staring at the town from the edge of the deck.
Bekka nodded. “As fair as any,” she replied.
“I see it in the eyes of the others — felt it in my own heart,” he continued. “Some of them’s thinking of staying — ‘specially now that Jenna’s in charge.”
“Wait, what?” Bekka asked, suddenly alarmed. “What do you mean, in charge? In charge of the ship? Did something happen to the Captain?”
Rosh looked at her for a minute, sorting out his thoughts. He shook his head. “No, ain’t nothing wrong with him. I meant she’s the new Lord…er, Lady of this place.”
“So it’s true then? The Festival of Lords truly does pick a new Lord and Jenna won the title?”
Rosh nodded. “Aye, she won and put on this amulet they gave her, then she took off, heading to the tower. I reckon we got an easy time of it here now, with her running things. Maybe she’ll even offer us titles too.”
Rosh scowled as his earlier thoughts came back. “Don’t matter, I ain’t staying.”
Bekka, confused at the talk of staying, could only nod. “I think we will all stay with the Captain. He’s a rare man that cares for his crew.”
Rosh shrugged. “Don’t be so sure,” he grunted. “If he’s so caring, why’d he spurn Jenna? Takes a fool to turn something offered like that down — and a damn mean fool to lead her on otherwise.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked him, concerned.
“After she got scratched, we locked her up in the hold,” he explained. “I was keeping an eye on it, I saw how strong them things was once they turned. If she turned, I meant to put her down quick.”
“Dexter went in there with her, and the things I heard were the kind of things you hear when two people are fighting or…”
Bekka’s eyebrows rose in understanding. “They didn’t come out with no fresh bruises,” Rosh finished.
“I didn’t know,” Bekka said softly. She meant to say more but they were interrupted.
“Rosh, is everything all right?” Willa called from below. Her voice sounded a little slurred, but not too badly.
Rosh looked at Bekka, his eyes fierce. She nodded wordlessly and he turned. “Yeah, just got tired.”
“Come on down here, I need some company,” she said.
Rosh grinned in spite of himself. “Why don’t you come up here?” He offered.
Willa pouted from the deck. “We’ve spent enough time on that smelly boat, don’t you want to feel real ground under your feet?”
To Rosh the words she spoke sounded strange. He looked around at the Voidhawk, conscious of the smell as he did so. “The ‘Hawk don’t stink,” he said.